Hundreds of law enforcement officers stepped up their hunt in western New York state for two convicted murderers who escaped from an upstate prison more than two weeks ago, as another possible sighting of the men was reported in a new search area.
The manhunt centered on the town of Friendship, located about 450km southwest of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, near the Canadian border, where the escaped convicts were serving life sentences for murder.
The search in Friendship was winding down by Sunday night, but increased patrols will stay in the area, New York State Police spokesman Beau Duffy said.
Photo: Reuters
“We will continue to search this area until all leads have been exhausted,” New York State Police Major Michael Cerretto said on Sunday. “As we have in other areas of this state, we will search under every rock, behind every tree and structure until we are confident that that area is secure.”
State police received a call early on Saturday afternoon from a witness who spotted two men with descriptions similar to the escaped convicts, Richard Matt and David Sweat, on a railroad line in Friendship, Cerretto said.
Police interviewed the witness at length and determined that the witness was credible and the lead should be investigated, Cerretto said, calling the sighting “unconfirmed.”
A secure perimeter was established around the area of the sighting and roadblocks were set up, Cerretto said at a brief press conference. He made no mention of other sightings in the area.
The Buffalo News reported that a civilian told police that he believed he had seen two men fitting the descriptions of the convicts walking along a road in Friendship on Sunday morning.
A spokesman for the New York State Police declined comment on the report.
Matt, 48, and Sweat, 35, cut through their cell walls and crawled through a steam pipe before emerging from a manhole outside the prison, authorities said. The pair was discovered missing on June 6.
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